Kari Nichols

Name: Kari Nichols

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Grade: 12

School: Bayview Secondary School

Hobbies and Interests: Speedcubing, Orchestra, Academics, Anything competitive

Appearance: Kari tends to stand slightly above her female peers, at 5'8" and 140 lbs. Her figure runs straight down the middle - she is neither skinny nor rotund, and while not hourglass-shaped by any means, she still has some distinct curves. She has long, deeply red hair that is normally drawn into a ponytail that reaches her mid-back, and that, like the rest of her, is characterized by a distinct but almost imperceptible messiness. Her eyes are a vibrant green of the sort that stands out across a classroom, with thick eyebrows above and prominent cheekbones below. Her nose borders on prominent, and all of her features are somewhat rounded. She also doesn't wear makeup for the most part, adding to her slightly disheveled look.

Her dress is generally stylish but tends towards simple outfits that don't require her to be perfectly coiffed. All in all, she's not beautiful, but manages to be attractive in her own way. A simple hoodie, flattering jeans, and black shirt with the words "MINNESOTA INVITATIONAL 2007" above a stylized representation of a Rubik's cube make up her outfit for the day of the abduction.

Biography: Kari Nichols was born and raised in St. Paul. Her father is a successful businessman, and she has grown up with a stay-at-home mom and two older brothers. While her family was and is somewhat wealthy, Kari was never a spoiled child. Indeed, she was instilled with an admirable work ethic from an early age, and impressed with the understanding that success is borne of hard work. This, combined with having two older brothers and no younger siblings, has given her quite a competitive nature.

This work ethic is most clearly on display in Kari's academics. Though not naturally gifted, she has managed to earn exceptional grades throughout her public schooling. Concepts she passes off as easy are often the product of late nights spent scratching away at bits of paper or bridging her understanding amongst textbooks. This is where her tendency to appear unkempt or messy comes from; rather than fighting it, she manages to go with the flow when studying, sports, music practice, and speedcubing sessions put sleeping as a bottom priority, and has adopted the look as her own. Her first-chair position amongst the cellists in the orchestra, as expected, is not the result of some sort of musical genius, but rather a studious practice schedule.

One area Kari does have some natural talent in is the world of speedcubing. It all began innocently enough with a stray Rubik's cube drifting around the house like flotsam from the 80's. Kari was no stranger to fiddling around and trying to match a couple rows before giving up in frustration a few minutes later. But one day, digging it out from an old toybox, she looked at it with a more appraising eye. The cube was a puzzle, but all puzzles had solutions, didn't they? Some poking around on the internet led to a video tutorial. That night, Kari went to bed exhausted, but not before placing the solved cube in front of her parents' bedroom door. As days passed, she managed to complete the cube without staring at a tutorial, and as weeks passed, she began picking up speed. Within a couple years, she had moved on to learning the competitively-fast Fridrich method, and finished memorizing the dizzying array of algorithms some months later. Now, three years after mastering that method, she is an up-and-coming competitor at the state level. While she gave a somewhat disappointing performance in 2007, that has only whetted her ambition to continue training.

All of this success, both inside the classroom and out, has given Kari a severe inferiority complex. Though she tries to channel defeat into competitive fire, nothing irks her more than a second-place finish. She is also outspokenly feminist due to a perfect storm of inferiority complex, two older brothers, fiercely competitive nature, and participation in the male-dominated world of speedcubing. She's gotten a habit of returning perceived misogynistic comments with a swift "playful" punch on the arm or "joking" retort, though such actions are not entirely benign. On the flip side, she is more than happy to take advantage of chivalrous behavior or use her status as the "weaker sex" to her advantage. After all, if anyone points out the hypocrisy, she can easily throw out the misogynist card.

Advantages: Kari is extremely competitive and hard-working. She's one of the fitter non-athletes, and has especially good fine motor skills, as well as strong hands and forearms from grip training. She also has experience keeping calm under pressure and functioning with little to no sleep.

Disadvantages: Kari is not a nice person, and tends to be abrasive even while trying to be friendly. Her feminism won't earn her many male allies, and with heavily-armed classmates roaming the island, an inferiority complex isn't a light burden to shoulder.

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Designated Number: Female Student no. 90

Designated Weapon: Madsen M50 (9mm) [x2 clips (32 round capacity)]

Conclusion: Finally, a strong female contender! With that competitive spirit and a nice gun, I see Ms. Nichols going far. Make me proud, G090.

'The above biography is as written by Rattlesnake. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Rattlesnake

Kills: Stacy Hart

Killed By: Stacy Hart

Collected Weapons: Madsen M50 (9mm) (assigned weapon)

Allies:

Enemies: None

Mid-game Evaluation:

Post-Game Evaluation:

Memorable Quotes:

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Kari, in chronological order:

V4:
 * Under The Sea Is Where No One Wants To Be
 * Pearl and Destiny
 * Missing Those Lost
 * High Tides and High Hopes
 * Ghosts
 * Hmmmm
 * Eep.

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Kari Nichols. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''


 * My kingdom for a character arc. - Rattlesnake
 * Kari was, overall, a well-written character. She also showed that a concept can be interesting and unique without falling back on psychopathy or strange diseases. She's outside the box in a good way, I think. On the island, Kari struggled a lot to find a purpose, as Rattle alludes to above. I always felt like Kari was super close to having stuff happen, but that plans kept falling through or something. She made a lot of really brief appearances in threads, but usually got chased away by something or other or didn't quite mesh with the group she found. Kari was pretty good throughout, just not super focused. I feel like her version from the Second Chances Mini is also worth a look, as she has a bit more narrative thrust, if a bit less longevity. - MurderWeasel